Business Directories

Riding robot

, October 1, 2013

Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd President Tsuneo Murata poses with his company's bicycle-riding robot "Murata Seisaku-kun" for a photo at its booth at CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) JAPAN 2013 in Chiba, east of Tokyo on October 1.

Japan's flagship consumer technology brands have had a rough few years with their products overshadowed by Korean and U.S. rivals, but the Japanese parts makers who supply those rivals are doing a roaring trade.

That is especially true for Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd, known as a supplier for Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy series of smartphones, and which is projecting a 71 percent jump in operating profit this year. Orders between July to September were on a par with the previous quarter's record high of 190.5 billion yen ($1.94 billion), Murata told Reuters on Tuesday in an interview at CEATEC, one of Japan's biggest electronics trade shows held near Tokyo. Reuters/Yuya Shino